Five years ago I went to Japan’s hottest city of Kumagaya for an international rugby match and took in a few minor sights in the hours before kick off. As I came away from the ground a fellow niche-specialist Japanese friend asked if I’d seen the big Buddha statue in that area. As a fan of such statues I was disappointed that I was unaware of it but made a note of it for future occasion. That time finally came round a couple of months ago when I went back to this area of Saitama Prefecture.

Take the train for just an hour north of Ikebukuro and you’ll arrive in Gyoda city which is home to many kofun (ancient burial mounds). I only had time for a couple on this particular trip with the most interesting one being Gyoda Hachimanyama Ancient Tomb which is only open to the public on weekends. More details here.

Another bus journey followed to see a Great Buddha statue which originally brought this area to my attention. Due to this statue I came across the aformentioned tombs as well as some other sites whilst browsing Google Maps. I got off the bus just a short distance past Daichoji (23-10 Gyoda, Saitama-ken) so had seen the back of it in passing already.

The history of this Great Buddha dates back to 1727 when it was first cast but nothing is ever that simple regarding such structures in a country which has suffered from various fires and multiple earthquakes as well as wars. It was donated as a metal resource in 1944 during the war, and then just over 50 years later this current one was restored thanks to the cooperation of believers.

In addition to the Great Buddha, this temple also has a collection of other sizeable jizo statues which are pretty impressive themselves.

Oshi Castle (17-23 Honmaru, Gyoda, Saitama-ken) was located just a short walk down the road from there. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting more than a few remains as I approached the location so was quite surprised to see such a visually impressive three-storey turret. It is very well taken care of and currently functions as the Gyoda City Museum.

It is a late 1980s reconstruction but was originally completed in 1479, and is one of the continued 100 fine castles of Japan which were chosen for their significance in culture and history in 2017. Japan has a lot of castles so maybe being in the top 100 is more impressive than it sounds! It is perhaps best known for withstanding a siege in 1590 against incredible odds which was immortalised in the film ‘Nobo no shiro‘ (2012) a.k.a. ‘The Floating Castle‘.

Afterwards I realised that no buses were imminent so I frantically searched for the quickest way to get to Kumagaya station as I had to get to a football match in time for kick off. Luckily, there were a couple of fairly equidistant options but I chose Mochida rather than the neighbouring Gyodashi station.

Kumagaya station was just six minutes from Mochida and I then had a bit of a wait before taking a bus to Kumagaya Athletic Stadium which is just a short walk away from Kumagaya Rugby Stadium; the spiritual home of rugby in Japan’s hottest city where I saw Japan and South Africa play a friendly match just ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup tournament. There is a giant rugby ball outside the station to mark its place in Japanese sporting history.

It was my first time to visit this stadium (the 48th one I’ve been to!) which is a very typical municipality ground in Japan with a running track circling the pitch.

As for the game, it really was a tale of goalkeeping woes as firstly the AS Elfen number one failed to catch a cross from a free kick and the away side bundled it it. In the second half  there was a superb long distance equaliser before the Stella keeper got in on the gaffs act and let the ball directly from a corner slip through her hands and into the net.

There are a few other sights I’d still like to see in this region such as Ancient Lotus Park, Water Castle Park and the various ancient burial mounds which make up Sakitama Kofun Ancient Tomb Park. Admittedly, they’re not real high priority for me at the moment but one day I will return to complete the

Click here to read ‘Unstaffed Stations Of Japan #15 – Mochida’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Alternative Sights In Saitama Prefecture’

Click here to read ‘Tokyo Daytripper: Big Golden Buddha & Sandy Red Monkey Temples Plus A Non-Scandalous Watergate!’

Click here to read ‘Japan & South Africa Meet For The First Time Since “That” Huge Shock In 2015’